Cygwin Installation

Get that Linux feeling - on Windows

Run setup-x86_64.exe any time you want to update or install a Cygwin package for 64-bit windows.

The signature for setup-x86_64.exe can be used to verify the validity of this binary using the public key here.

When installing packages for the first time, the setup program does not install every package. Only the minimal base packages from the Cygwin distribution are installed by default, which takes up about 100 MB.

Clicking on categories and packages in the setup program package installation screen allows you to select what is installed or updated.

Individual packages like bash, gcc, less, etc. are released independently of the Cygwin DLL, so the Cygwin DLL version is not useful as a general Cygwin release number. The setup program tracks the versions of all installed components and provides the mechanism for installing or updating everything available from this site for Cygwin.

Once you've installed your desired subset of the Cygwin distribution, the setup program will remember what you selected, so re-running it will update your system with any new package releases.

The setup program will check by default if it runs with administrative privileges and, if not, will try to elevate the process. If you want to avoid this behaviour and install under an unprivileged account just for your own usage, run setup with the --no-admin option.

A: Run the setup program and select the package you want to add.

Tip: if you don't want to also upgrade existing packages, select 'Keep' at the top-right of the package chooser page.

A: Yes and no. The setup program understands command-line arguments which allow you to control its behavior and choose individual packages to install. While this provides some functionality similar to such tools as apt-get or yum it is not as full-featured as those package managers.

A: The basic reason for not using a more full-featured package manager is that such a program would need full access to all of Cygwin's POSIX functionality. That is, however, difficult to provide in a Cygwin-free environment, such as exists on first installation. Additionally, Windows does not easily allow overwriting of in-use executables so installing a new version of the Cygwin DLL while a package manager is using the DLL is problematic.

A: You do not want to do this! This will install an enormous number of packages that you will never use, including debuginfo and source for every package.

If you really must do this, clicking on the "Default" label next to the "All" category to change it to "Install" will mark every Cygwin package for installation. Be advised that this will download and install tens of gigabytes of files to your computer.

A: e.g.

A: See here

A: See the setup project page for more information.